Internet Monk Radio Podcast #98

Sabbatical Week 2, Catholics make nice places to pray, Friendship and the God journey, a great book recommendation.

You all need to buy "The Gospel for Those Broken by the Church" and more Reformation theology gifts from New Reformation Press.

Recommendation and Review: My Beautiful Idol by Pete Gall

Matthew 6:31 "So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?' 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God* above all else, …

Riffs: A Meme On What You Can't Say Around Christians

(Thanks to all of you who are already supporting Jesus Shaped Spirituality, or JSS.)

We probably need a new category around here: "Words As I Ride Into The Sunset."

Catholic blogger extraordinaire Amy Welborn has been studying me for a couple of years now, and she knows …

Jesus Shaped Spirituality Has A Home (temporarily)

UPDATE: The new post at JSS is "God is Jesus."

I have started blogging at Jesus Shaped Spirituality or JesusShaped.wordpress.com. The actual domain JesusShaped.com won't be up for a while, so this is my temporary home.

If you are an IM reader, PLEASE help me make this …

Internet Monk Radio Podcast #97

Movie talk, C.S. Lewis off limits, To those who feel it's not working.

You all need to buy "The Gospel for Those Broken by the Church" and more Reformation theology gifts from New Reformation Press.

The Jonah 4 Club

Here's a useful question for me right now. (Maybe it will be useful to you, or maybe not.)

Can you find places in scripture where someone had to drastically revise their idea of God in order to know and follow the true God? If so, why and how?

I'm not asking for places …

A Must Have Book on Jesus

Because you have a real life, maybe you can only read one book about Jesus scholarship this year. What's it going to be?

I love N.T. Wright's Jesus and The Victory of God, but unless you are used to scholarly exegesis and discussion, you need something aimed more at the …

Missional Street Cred: The Conversation Continues

Somewhere between Mark Driscoll, David Fitch, Bill Kinnon and Jared Wilson there's a discussion about the validity of missional/emerging church claims to know what they are doing/talking about....which I'm not part of, but one of them asks for my thoughts. Big mistake …

Sabbatical Journal + Book Recommendation for my Offended Readers

I'm completing my first week of sabbatical here in lovely Louisville, Kentucky. I want to thank all of you who made suggestions of things to do. I've visited many places that you recommended.

I've stayed at the Legacy Center on the Campus of The Southern Baptist …

iMonk 101: The Humility Zone + Alex Arnold on Theological Skepticism

I've always liked this essay, and I don't want to lose track of it.



The Humility Zone is rarer and rarer among Christians these days. Defending the authority of scripture has come to mean asserting the impossibility of our own fallibility. Scripture is true, has …

Enough Courage to Go Around

UPDATE: Here's a suggestion by Ray Ortland that fits with this post.

If the truth about Christianity turned out to be very different from what we'd been taught as young Christians by people we look up to as mentors and authorities, would we stand up and tell the truth? …

Sabbatical Journal: Departure

In fifteen minutes, I'll be on the road to sabbatical week 1 on the campus of Southern seminary.

Look for occasional reports here. Look for some of the fruit of my time away at the temporary home of Jesus Shaped Spirituality.

Thanks for all the Louisville advice. I'm …

William Paul Young (author of "The Shack") on Steve Brown, Etc.

UPDATE: Here's an example of what Young is writing at his own blog these days.

I cannot tell you how important it is for you to go listen to this interview. If you've read The Shack and wondered how the story expresses the faith journey of the author, this is the …

Internet Monk Radio Podcast #96

What's happening to the IM website? Dragged down front and made to dance.

Jake Colsen.com

So You Don't Want To Go To Church?

The God Journey. An absolute must for IM readers. Go to "Recent Episodes" and listen to "Who Is This God?"

You all need to buy "The Gospel for …

The God of Job's Complaints

Job 10:1 "I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint;

I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2 I will say to God, Do not condemn me;

let me know why you contend against me.

3 Does it seem good to you to oppress,

to despise the work of your …

Dear Internet Monk Readers...

UPDATE: Thanks for all the kind comments. I promise to use whatever gifts I have in this medium to continue encouraging all of you on the same journey, even if not the same way.

Dear Internet Monk Readers,

Over the next few weeks, while I am on sabbatical, I will be …

Open Thread Question: Church and Kingdom- What's the Relationship?

UPDATE: Winner so far: Thinkling Jared. Esp for saying whom he copied from.

I think we need to open a window at this little stop on the web. It's been a bit stuffy in here lately.

Here's a question that's right at the heart of all kinds of important things going on in …

Can A Christian Sing The Blues?

***sigh***

When someone says I've written something I shouldn't have written, you can be almost certain that I've written something using the language of lament. L-A-M-E-N-T.

All of you that just said "huh?" please step into the side room. If you came in a bus, they'll …

A Special Offer to IM Readers and Friends from Jason Boyett

Jason Boyett is an outstanding author of helpful, practical, humorous books, several of which have been published by Relevant books. He's a regular writer at Relevant Magazine, a guest blogger at the BHT and a friend of this web site. He's got a great deal for those of …

Jesus Shaped Spirituality: What does Jesus Shaped Integrity Look Like?

I was sitting in a middle school classroom today and noticed a poster on the wall. It said, in a highly decorative way, "Integrity: Hold On To Your Beliefs!"

Public and private schools are full of this sort of thing these days. There are catalogs of this kind of …